Dan
Slott made me quit buying Spider-Man with #700, which is really
saying something considering that Spider-Man is my favorite
superhero. I vowed to never buy anymore new Spider-Man comics for as
long as Slott was the writer on them, as he is a jerk to fans on
Twitter as well. My son checked out a stack of graphic novels from
the library and wanted to read them with me, and this was one of
them. So I haven't broken my vow to not buy anything that Slott does.

I am sorry, but Humberto Ramos sucks.

Slott
always had a good grasp on the character, which made his Superior
Spider-Man/ Spider-Ock thing so wrong to me. It is a concept that
might be fun for an arc, but for a series that lasted a couple of
years? Forget about it. Humberto Ramos' art is still not to my
liking, even though he has improved by leaps and bounds. His original
Manga-influenced style was an abomination to the eyes. Here he is
merely mediocre. So while the art left a lot to be desired, the story
in and of itself is good.

S
P O I L E R S ahead. Peter Parker is back. During his time
in charge of Peter's brain Doctor Octopus finished Parker's
doctorate, launched Parker Industries, and changed his life on a
number of other levels. Peter comes back to the world like someone
who was in a coma, albeit with someone else living his life for him
in the meantime. Electro wants revenge on Spider-Man, as Doctor
Octopus apparently was a more sadistic hero who captured and
experimented on him. Ock also destroyed the life of the Black Cat, a
one time love interest of Spider-Man. So Electro and the Black Cat
are working together to get revenge on Spider-Man.

My son and I both enjoyed Slott's take on J. Jonah Jameson.

The
other arc going on here is the introduction of Silk, a girl who was
apparently bitten by the same radioactive spider that Peter Parker
was. Her parents were contacted by Ezekiel and she has been in
captivity for all this time for “her own protection”. In typical
Parker fashion he finds out about her and breaks her out of her cell,
only to discover the reason why she has been locked up: to keep her
presence hidden from Morlun, whom Spider-Man fought (and apparently
has killed) twice before. Only now it is revealed that he is still
alive, although Spider-Man is unaware of this as of yet. So Silk gets
the big set up and teams up with Spider-Man to defeat the Black Cat
and Electro. Not bad. It certainly reads better as a story than it
does when you write in down on “paper” and read a synopsis of the
events like this.

My
9 year old son's take: It was good. I liked the fact that they
sort of changed his origin (meaning that they added Silk). I
liked that they used Electro and Black Cat in it. I disliked the
swears, because if they didn't put the swears in it it would be
appropriate for kids to read (meaning without parental
supervision). That's pretty much it.

I
do not indoctrinate my son with my opinions and feelings about
continuity and artwork, etc., preferring for him to develop his own
tastes. This is his Golden Age of comics and I can respect
that. But I do let him know that I disapprove of swearing in
mainstream superhero comic books, which is just ridiculous.

So
this was an enjoyable way to spend time with my son and it was a
decent enough story to boot. Not decent enough for me to buy
this, but decent enough for us to go and check out Volume 2 from the
library. Slott is still a butthead though. And I will never, ever
think that it is okay for there to be swearing in mainstream
superhero comics which are ostensibly targeted at a teenage audience.
In reality they should be all ages since Marvel/Disney bombard young
children with cartoons and merchandise of these characters. You would
think that they would want the comics to be accessible to
young, potentially lifelong readers. Aside from the swearing and one
or two things about Silk which went over my son's head there was
nothing in here that was inappropriate for a nine year old kid. So
why is there a need to be “edgy” and have swearing? I am
admittedly old-fashioned but come on, Marvel. You are better than
this.